Building a Wooden Cage- help!

[DestinyLynette]

After some discussion with a wood shop instructer I train with, I found out that he would be willing to build Rosca's tank, given I pay for the materials. First of all, I was pretty overjoyed by this because my own handy skills are... well, pitiful. Second, after agreeing to give him the specifics, I realized that I had no idea outside the bare basics of what to tell him. I need to type him up an overview of everything I want done, but I'm pretty afraid of overlooking something. Please tell me what you think. Here's what I'm wanting done with her tank:

4' long, 2' tall, 2' wide
Wooden sides and bottom, some sort of clear front (plexiglass?), hinged door on top with chicken wire (instructor's suggestion when I expressed my desire for a screen top
Want to make a vivarium with this tank
I'm currently using a heat lamp for her heat source, although I have just started hearing about heat tape- I'm kind of curious about it; if I decide to use that, would I have to make any accomodations to the tank?
I was looking into using good grade plywood- I was reading some cage building guides and saw that B grade and better were acceptable. I feel like I'm missing something big in the planning of this- it can't be as simple as sheets of wood + wire + clear front.. I feel like holes need to be put somewhere or something.

Rosca is a 5' long ball python if that is helpful at all.
Any comments, ideas, suggestions, instructions, etc would be great; I saw some cage-building guides in this forum and went through them but couldn't much understand them.

[RyanReptile]

I have never build any of my cages before so I have minimal experience but it seems like you have a pretty good understanding of what you want. I will suggest that you make sure not to put a lot of screen you don't want the heat and humidity leaving easily and If you use plywood make sure to also apply some kind of sealant so the moisture doesn't destroy the wood.

[Jack C]

The chicken wire is going to be too open, you'll loose your humidity way too easily. If its the only mesh you have access to I'd limit it by maybe getting a jig saw to cut a hole and screen that with the mesh.

[DestinyLynette]

I can ask about different screening; the instructor just suggested that because he had that on hand. Would you suggest bringing the "door" frame in by a couple of inches so the over all coverage of the wire was less? I'm hesitant to have only the circle cut out for the lamp; it seems like that would create a bit of an oven.

Oh, question: I live on the coast of Mississippi and I rarely have to mist Rosca's tank- but sometimes my reader gives me a humidity that is way too high, from the air alone. How would you suggest *lowering* humidity

[DestinyLynette]

And to add to that: I'm looking at plywood and the non-pine varieties are few and far between. If the pine is sanded and sealed, is it safe to use?

[Bloedig]

They make a tighter mesh wire that they sell at Home Depot and Lowes. It's very similar to what you see in retail versions of screen tops for vivs.

If your doing it out of plywood I would also suggest it all get a good coat of sealer before even putting any of the pieces together. Then another coat or more after it's built.

As for Flexwatt you have a potential for fire where you mix wood and something like that. Even UTHs are not great with wood because of the fire danger.

If I were building something from scratch like this, I personally would use xpvc (expanded PVC). It acts, cuts, etc just like wood, but does not have the fire danger, it's much better with moisture, etc too.

Oh and for the door(s) I would not do acrylic, I would do glass. If you do acrylic, make sure you don't do them as sliding doors, do them as hinged doors, as acrylic bows way too much.

[NCHornet]

I am a cabinetmaker by trade and will help you all I can. My best advice is to STOP!!!!!!!!! You, and the nake will be much happier if you get a plastic type enclosure. They keep the humidity where it needs to be 60% to 70% and the temps in the correct range. Do not use heat bulbs for your snake. Get a UTH or a radiant heat panel. I prefer the UTH over the panel, heat tape is basically the same as the UTH. The plastic enclosures are also much easier to keep clean and sanitary. Boas do not require any UV in their light. So I buy the cheap under counter lights at walmart that are about 2 ft long and mount them inside each cage and they are on a timer, 12 hours on, 12 off.

If you still want to build your own here is my advice. Use a good 3/4" sheet stock with at least one A face. I would make the top solid, if you use screen you will never be able to keep the humidity up. You could do 2/3 solid and 1/3 removeable. I prefer to use a door that slides through a dado cut rather than hinges. Only have the plexiglass on the front, snakes like to feel secure, so using it on the sides too is just to much. After you have the box built I would line the entire interior of the cage should be lined with 1/8 plexiglass and use a good 100% silicone at all joints. Even if you use melamine it will not stand up to being wet very often. Kortron would be much better as a substrate. If you don't want to use the plexiglass at least line it in plastic laminate, otherwise the enclosure will not hold up well to use. You can stain and lacquer the exterior but not the interior. For the bottom of the cage you can't use 3/4" substrate otherwise it will be difficult to get any heat from a UTH. So use 3/8 or 1/2 and supply cross supports to prevent sagging. By the time you pay for the materials you could have bought a nice enclosure and had it delivered. There is a reason why I don't build my own cages any more, I practice what I preach. You can reach me at ccvmod@triad.rr.com if you have any questions.